


A Concerning Amount of Peaches

by howboutinotdothis



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: and connor's just an asshole but he's their asshole so it's all good, and then antagonizing Connor over text, and zoe loves him back because zoe's great, evan just really loves zoe okay??, he's just platonically in love with her because who wouldn't be, this is literally just Zoe complaining about Evan having too many peaches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 11:59:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10437297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howboutinotdothis/pseuds/howboutinotdothis
Summary: Zoe is bugging Evan at his apartment. Again.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is probably ooc cause i just wrote it right after i woke up lmao but hope you enjoy! i just really love zoe and evan as friends? like they're great
> 
> comments/kudos/criticism is always appreciated! this is kind of in the same universe as the other thing I wrote (Et Tu, Evan?) where they're all in college and Connor and Zoe drag Evan places and spend a lot of their time distracting him because they're good friends

“Evan.”

“Yes?”

“Why do you have a huge bowl of peaches in your refrigerator?”

“Because I like peaches?” Evan finally looks up from his book to see Zoe digging through his refrigerator, a sight he’s gotten used to over the past few months. Zoe comes over to his apartment, he does his homework, she insults his food choices, and then Connor shows up because nine times out of ten if Zoe isn’t at home, she’s with Evan.

“Yeah, but this is, like, a concerning amount of peaches.”

“What do you consider a concerning amount of something to be?”

“You know,” Zoe waves her hand in the air vaguely as if the gesture will help explain her point. “A concerning amount. So much that it concerns you. Don’t be obtuse, Evan.”

“I’m not, I don’t think.” Evan taps his pencil against his textbook, trying to decide whether a sentence in his book is worth highlighting or not. He doesn’t particularly want to highlight it because then most of that page will be highlighted, thus making the highlighting pointless, but he also thinks that this is a very important fact that he’ll need to review for the exam. Finally, Evan drops the pencil, grabs his neon yellow highlighter, and drags it across the text. Better safe than sorry.

“It’s just, this is a lot of peaches, Evan. I didn’t realize you liked peaches this much.”

“I wouldn’t say I particularly like peaches. Why are we talking about this again?” Evan looks up and there’s Zoe, hefting his bowl of peaches like she’s trying to estimate just how many peach slices are in the bowl. Evan will admit that it is a lot of peaches—he bought one of those huge cans that seems better suited for the stockroom of a doomsday prepper than for his cramped refrigerator. He likes to buy things in bulk when he can; he’d rather go grocery shopping once a month than once weekly like Zoe seems to.

“Because you have a concerning amount of peaches. I’m concerned about your peach intake.”

“Oh.”

Zoe returns the bowl of peaches to their rightful spot in the fridge before crossing the room to sit on the couch beside Evan, pulling his textbook out of his lap and slamming it shut. “How many weeks ahead are you on readings?”

“Two?”

“You’re horrible at being a slacker college student. Absolutely awful at it. You’re like Alana, except without the copious amounts of volunteer hours.”

Evan gives her a confused look. “Is that supposed to be an insult? Also, you love Alana, so isn’t it good I’m like her?”

“No, Evan,” Zoe places her hand on his shoulder and leans in close like she’s explaining something very simple. “We already have one overachiever in this friend group. We don’t need two.” She gives him a meaningful look.

“O-okay? Do you—I mean, do you not want me to hang out with—I’m sorry, what?” Evan can feel his face getting hot. Is this Zoe’s way of asking him to stop hanging out with them? If that’s what they want, he will, he gets it, he’s a freak and he’s awful to be around and he’s too much work, but he didn’t expect that the breaking point would be reading ahead in his classes. He was sure they’d give up on him when he locked himself in a bathroom at Target and refused to come out because there were _way_ too many people that day and people kept bumping into him and he kept saying “sorry” but nobody noticed and so he bolted from the dollar section and locked himself in a stall. Jared and Connor spent ten minutes trying to convince him to let them in before Zoe came in—acting as if she totally belonged in the men’s restroom—and crawled under the stall door. She rubbed his back and said nice things and managed to calm him down enough that he could make it back to the car without freaking out.

It was kind of hard to look in his friends’ eyes for a while after that.

“Evan,” Zoe gives him a no nonsense look that reminds him of Alana when she sets her mind to something. “I meant you should chill out. Destress. Eat some peaches and marathon The Walking Dead with me. We’re friends, dude, and friends make other friends get so behind on their work they almost fail their classes.”

“I don’t—I don’t think that’s a thing.” He mumbles, feeling a bit better. Zoe’s good at picking up when he takes something the wrong way. He loves that about her. He loves a lot of things about Zoe—she’s really the greatest. Evan doesn’t think he would have a friend group at all, if it wasn’t for Zoe.

“Then we’re going to make it a thing. Right now.”

Evan sighs because he’s horrible at saying no in general, but he is completely unable to say no to Zoe Murphy. Ever. Even when she asks him to do incredibly idiotic things. So, Evan’s not getting any work done today.

“Does Connor know you’re here?”

“If Connor isn’t an idiot, yes. So probably not.” Zoe smiles and Evan can’t help but laugh. It’s nice, hearing her talk about Connor without sounding upset or bitter. He remembers a time not too long ago when Evan had to spend time with the two of them separately because they couldn’t be in the same room together without getting into a huge argument that always ended with Connor going off to brood alone and Zoe sleeping on Evan’s couch. Things have gotten better since Connor’s psychiatrist prescribed him an antidepressant and Connor started actually participating in therapy instead of just sitting silently until the session was over. Evan and Zoe have both been into his sessions a few times; Connor’s psychiatrist has played mediator in a few of Zoe and Connor’s bigger fights and he’s coached Connor through a few apologies to Evan for pulling a disappearing act after fights or relationship milestones.

“You should text him. You know he gets worried about you.”

Zoe rolls her eyes. “Yes, _mom_.” She dutifully grabs her phone and texts Connor “I’m at your boyfriend’s apartment and he says he likes me better than you,” which isn’t exactly what Evan was hoping for, but he supposes it’ll do.

The response is immediate. Zoe lowers her voice and tries to sound like an angry teenage boy as she reads his response. “Fuck off, Zoe.”

Then, a second later. “I’m coming over, do you guys want pizza or what?”

Zoe turns to Evan, trying to look serious and contemplative but failing. “I don’t know, Evan, do we want pizza or what?”

“What’s 'or what'?”

“Probably McDonald’s.”

“Pizza, then.”

Zoe responds with a “your boyfriend wants pizza because he has better taste than you. Makes me wonder why he’s dating you if he doesn’t like garbage.”

“Zoe, really?” Evan says, exasperated. Connor is a lot more insecure about their relationship than he lets on, so Zoe picking at him about it never ends well.

She shrugs. “He was being an asshole this morning. He deserves it.”

Her phone chimes and they both steel themselves for what they’re sure is going to be something that will set off an epic argument that won’t end until Connor’s counselling session that week. “Hilarious. Cheese or pepperoni?” Zoe reads.

“Cheese.”

Zoe lets out a long, dramatic sigh. “Why are you so basic, Evan? I thought I raised you to be better than this.”

“You didn’t raise me though?”

“Exactly.”

“That makes no sense.”

“Neither does you dating my brother, but here we are.”

“Zoe.”

“Okay, fine, I’m done.” Zoe throws her hands up in defeat. “I’m still going to eat the last of his zebra cakes tonight though.”

Evan snorts. “You sound like a second grader.”

“ _You_ sound like a second grader.”

They keep talking, and Evan feels happy. Really happy. And grateful. He doesn’t know where he’d be without Zoe Murphy.

“I love you,” Evan says when the conversation has died down and Zoe is complaining about how slow his wi-fi is as she tries to long into Netflix.

“I love you too, dude.” Zoe says casually like loving Evan is as easy as noting that the sky is blue. Like it was bound to happen—Evan was always going to love Zoe and Zoe was always going to love Evan, and that’s all there was to it.

Evan really loves Zoe Murphy.

**Author's Note:**

> zoe murphy 100% seems like the kind of person who would crawl under a bathroom stall door for a friend imo
> 
> also if you guys want me to write more zoe/evan friendship tell me and I will!  
> also this is super short lmao sorry i have a date like right now so I can't write anymore


End file.
